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Navarre's Projects
After the Tal campaign, and the expulsion of Ork and Chaos forces from Vigo Sector, Karlees Navarre began a number of programs to rebuild the shattered sector from the war, and to help secure it against any future attack. Derisively called by some 'Navarre's Projects' they have had an immediate and marked effect on the sector as a whole. The Lightwell Project In the Kommanche Guerrilla War, Varraconi sergeant John Thomas rallied the Underhive serf-laborers to fight for the Imperium, promising they would be rewarded by being allowed to see the sky(an item of myth among the darkness-bound serfs). When the planet was liberated, Thomas met with Navarre and demanded that enormous light wells be carved through the upper hive to allow the sun's light to reach the levels of the serfs; threatening another guerrilla war, this time against the Imperium, if his promise to the serfs was not honored. Navarre was attracted to the idea for his own reasons, and readily agreed to the sergeant's demands: approximately three months later, the John Thomas Lightwell was opened, and billions of serfs saw the sky for the first time(reportedly, there were many cases of agoraphobia). Navarre was attracted to the lightwell concept as a means of access to the Underhive; without the lightwells, any movement by the authorities into the Underhive would have to move through a labyrinth of pith-dark tunnels. With 17 strategically-placed lightwells in total, Arbites or PDF forces can quickly and easily reach any part of the Underhive. With the success of the Lightwell Project on Kommanche, Navarre has begun similar projects on other hive worlds; though Kommanche is unlike most hive worlds, being a world-spanning city, the idea of gigantic wells stretching down into the Underhive, allowing the planetary governors to exert their authority in these lawless and independent zones, has some attraction. Internal Colonization In addition to making improvements to populated worlds, Navarre has ordered the colonization of formerly lifeless planets, moons and planetoids; in hab domes, underground cities, or by terraforming. Entire communities, of at least 100 people each, have been 'planted' across much of Vigo Sector; self-supporting by means of hydroponics, fungus-growing, or other means of agriculture, these new colonies are essentially dumping grounds for the untold billions of refugees and their descendants who tax the resources of Vigo Sector; in this way, millions of them have become self-supporting and contributing to the common security. When questioned about the financial and economic cost of building viable colonies from scratch on cold rocks, Navarre replied: '"Orks make use of them; I see no reason why we can't do it better."' Planet Growing As a costly subsection of the Internal Colonization project is the literal creation of dwarf planets and planetoids in the asteroid belts of occupied systems; the smaller rocks are broken up and rendered down for usable materials, and the slag simply dumped on the larger rocks: once the accumulated matter has built up enough, the collected ore is then used to construct hab domes or underground facilities for colonists to inhabit. The L4 and L5 Lagrange points of planets, particularly gas giants are favored points for this: where time and resources permit, space-borne mirrors are used to warm the new planets, and gas(harvested either from comets or gas giants) is vented onto the surface; specially-tailored microscopic organisms, provided by Adeptus Mechanicus Genetors are then released, to begin the slow transformation of poisonous and noble gases to a breathable atmosphere; it will likely take thousands of years, but someday, these worlds may very well be habitable. Large numbers of ships are detached from the Navy to perform this task, alongside many merchant and Systems Defense Force vessels; Navarre regarded it as a chance for the crews of 'new' ships(recently acquired and commissioned ships, such as ROShips, ships detached from reserve fleets, and newly-built vessels) to gain some badly-needed field experience; in a fleet that was rapidly rebuilt, using new ships and inexperienced men, any chance to train and gain experience outside of combat is gladly made use of. Perils Planet Growing is a perilous task: asteroids can damage or destroy a ship; Xenos, such as Orks and Demiurg, often hide among the asteroids, and can attack Imperial vessels. In one famous case, and armed merchantman, the Lysander's Rest was operating with a number of insystem freighters in the Harker IV L5 point, when they discovered a Dark Eldar ship hiding among the asteroids; it immediately attacked, destroying the Lysander's Rest, then starting on the freighters, when a squadron of Eldar mercenaries, replying to the distress call Lysander's Rest sent before their destruction, arrived, and drove off the pirate. Mechanicum Schism The ROShip Encephalus, while 'powdering' asteroids in the Krimzon belt, discovered a Necron tomb, encased in a tumbling asteroid; evidently the remains of a planet, long destroyed. Rather than risk the Necrons within awaking, Captain Grinwell had it destroyed, over strenuous objections of the Engineers aboard the Encephalus. Navarre supported Captain Grinwell against attempts by the Adeptus Mechanicus to have him punished for the destruction of a potentially valuable trove of archeotech; after simply giving away the Marathag Craftworld to Ariel Ysggad, it provoked the Adeptus Mechanicus to demand Navarre's removal from command. This caused a near-schism of the Mechanicus within Vigo Sector between orthodox and radical factions; the orthodox saw Navarre as a danger to the Mechanicus, while Navarre had quietly made a number of friends within the radicals whom he had quietly supported and helped to gain authority with the mechanicus. The schism was resolved when Navarre tendered his humble apologies to the Mechanicus, and offered three 'new-built' planets in Dannenbeck as a good-will offer; weakened by the schism, the orthodox faction grudgingly accepted his offer, and a strained truce was declared between the two factions. Category:Other